Chapter Text
Tenya Iida considers himself to be a rather patient person overall; However, today was intensely trying to disprove his belief.
His day had begun like it always did, up at five, brush his teeth, change, eat something, grab his gym bag, and off on a warm-up run on his way to the agency. When he would get there he’d go into the training room all alone and run laps or train until around seven. At the point, he would wrap up training and head to the showers before changing into his hero suit. He had a reason for each task in his morning routine in that order. It became the simple science of his being. Each day started out calm, consistent, and quiet. This allowed Tenya to save all his energy for the day to come. While it wasn’t exactly the most colorful routine ever, it was consistent and stable and Tenya appreciates that. Sometimes the black and white background was necessary to handle all of the colorful odds and ends being a pro hero throws at you.
However, today in particular had other plans; and honestly, Tenya had enough of today.
First, when he was halfway to his agency, he found himself restraining a low-level thug that was trying to hold up the coffee shop on the way to his agency. Not that it was something Tenya couldn’t handle. He could handle one interruption to his daily routine.
But then, as Tenya had finally made it to his agency he was bombarded by his assistant with messages, notes, and paperwork. Apparently, two of the on-staff sidekicks had gotten into a rather nasty incident and needed immediate time off for their injuries. Tenya sighed knowing that it couldn’t wait and sat down to the mountain of paperwork at his desk.
When he was about halfway through the stack, there was a knock on his office door. His assistant peeked her head in with a rather serious tone. “Sir, sorry to interrupt but I have the lead detective on the arms dealing gang case waiting for you. He's waiting for you on the first line. He said it’s urgent,” she finished with an apologetic smile. He nodded in confirmation as he rubbed his face, took a deep breath, and finally picked up the receiver. “This is Ingenium,” he said flatly.
“Hello again, we’ve found what we think is the main hideout for the gang. We want to raid as soon as possible before they relocate, can we count you in for today at eleven this morning?” Tenya gripped the arm of his chair harshly as he considered the words of the detective. They had been following this small-time crime ring for a while and this could be the only chance they have. Tenya knew that he needed to sacrifice his morning time for this raid since it was so important. But that didn’t make Tenya feel great about it either. But a hero must always be willing to sacrifice.
“Of course! A hero must always be willing and available to the public. I will see you at the station at ten-thirty sharp to brief before the raid. Thank you for your time detective,” Iida said with his normal confidence. He hung the phone up after the correct pleasantries and looked at the time. It was currently twenty past seven and Tenya was already exhausted. He started back on his paperwork hoping to finish with enough time to get some laps in. He wanted to have already warmed up before getting right to it.
As Tenya was finally finishing the stack of paperwork on his desk, his phone chimed reminding him that he now had an hour and a half before he needed to be at the station. He took his time and went to the training room three floors below. He peeked around the corners of the training gym and saw that the heavy-duty treadmill was open and ready for use. Finally finding a small bit of piece in his morning, Tenya began to stretch as he prepared for his run. He flickered his engines to life little by little to ensure their proper use.
Halfway through his usual five-mile jog, a sidekick who had been recently brought on board approached Tenya’s treadmill. She was a recent graduate from UA that Tenya had seen do fairly well at the sports festival during her third year. She had a similar speed based quirk; However, instead of relying on engines or super-fast legs, she was able to manipulate the velocity of molecules around her, she had honed this ability to make herself move faster or to manipulate the velocity of objects around her. She decided on the code name Verocious. She vaguely reminded him of Tenya’s best friend Ochako both in terms of quirk and on how bubbly she can be. However, she was a fairly nice looking girl her hair was pin-straight and was a dark shade of purple that it almost looked black with lavender-colored eyes to match. It was cut in a short blunt bob with straight yet slightly shorter face-framing pieces on the sides. She was wearing an all-black bodysuit to train in.
“Good Morning Ingenium-san, I haven’t had a chance to thank you for the job offer,” she bowed her head. “I really appreciate you believing in me. You and your brother have been my favorite heroes since I was a kid. It truly is an honor to work with you.” she said with a smile as she hopped on the treadmill next to Tenya.
“Well, thank you that means a lot to me. My brother was my favorite hero too, that’s why I became who I am today. I miss him dearly. I look forward to working with you,” he said with a smile in between never wavering in his speed or run. He turned back to the treadmill to focus on his jog. He needed to clear his mind before the raid.
Tenya’s peaceful thoughts were interrupted by the Verocious calling out to him again. She began to rampantly talk about heroes, speed, training, and everything in between. Normally, Tenya would admire this kind of contribution to a conversation however, right now all he wanted was some time to himself and to run. He swallowed the selfish feeling down and kept conversing.
After what felt like hours talking to his new sidekick, his phone chimed again alerting him that he needed to change and head down to the station in the next thirty minutes. He finally politely excused himself and bolted for the changing rooms. Tenya’s normally calm stoic mood was replaced by a small but growing irritability over the loss of both his privacy when running and his peaceful mind-clearing morning routine. He tried to shake the bad feeling off of himself as he prepared for the job ahead.
He made it to the station at ten-thirty on the dot, Tenya was never one to be late after all. The lead detective was waiting for him in the lobby with a stack of files ready to go. The detective himself was already suited up in a bulletproof vest and lighter padding on the other parts of his body. Tenya began to rapidly yet carefully flip through the pages. Most of which he was already familiar with, the only new information was on the hideout and the number of guards they would probably have to face. He huffed a big breath and finally flipped to the most recent and top page that was attached to the inside cover of the file. There it was listed to which heroes were going to be involved exactly. He glanced over the list and saw mostly newer rookie heroes that he had yet to meet. His eyes fell over one name in particular that made Tenya thank the gods for the blessing: Uravity. Better known to Tenya as Ochako Uraraka-Bakugou, his best friend.
“I wasn’t aware that Uravity was going to be involved in the case,” he said half asking the detective in front of him.
“We called her in this morning after having confirmed that the gang has been storing a shipment of illegal support gear and firearms in the building. We figured it would be best to get those out and confiscate them quickly. Uravity agreed that she would be the best fit for the job,” he said.
Tenya opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a friendly familiar voice behind him. “Man Tenya, it really takes sharing a case for me to see you huh?” He whipped around faster than he could see as he rushed toward the figure dressed in pink in black. He scooped her into a warm hug. Tenya wasn’t normally an affectionate person, in fact, he normally would only ever touch a person’s shoulder unless it was in the line of work he had to do. She had an ear-to-ear grin plastered on her face. She looked almost the same as she did last time he saw her, this time she looked a tad more worn, almost as if she was fresh from patrol.
“Ochako! So good to see you! I apologize, I’ve been rather busy with this case. I’ve missed you!” he exclaimed as he placed her back on the ground. She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“No worries Ten, we are all busy with our lives sometimes. Maybe after this raid we can grab lunch and catch up,” she said with an infectious smile.
Back in Tenya’s UA days, Ochako was his first friend in the class. They bonded quickly over their first year when Tenya had saved Ochako’s life at the USJ incident before he had left to get help from the UA staff. They’d been best friends ever since. Back then, Tenya had a small crush on the bubbly brunette, he had never told her nor had he acted on it. He had debated it in their second year when he, Ochako, and Bakugou were paired off at an internship with Gunhead. However, following that internship Ochako had expressed romantic feelings for Bakugou. He stopped then and there hoping to respect her feelings. She began dating the angry blonde later that semester, they have been together ever since. Going so far as to have been married in the fall after their graduation from UA. Tenya had even been one of Bakugou’s groomsmen. Tenya’s feelings for the brunette shipped off with the duo. Now, he was happy just to have her as his best friend.
“You can say that again,” Tenya said as he saw the detective signaling for the team to prepare to head out for the raid. “Shall we?” he said as Ochako interlocked arms with the tall blue-haired man. He pulled on his helmet and prepared for the impending raid.
Tenya felt as if he had been hit by a truck. His armor didn’t look much better.
Tenya ached as he peeled off his hero suit and placed it in a box to be taken for repairs. For now, he changed into civilian clothes to meet Ochako for a late lunch. The raid had taken a little under an hour but, between finalizing paperwork, press interviews, publishing his debrief to the hero network, and processing the arrests took another two hours of their time. Tenya was more than a little hungry as he realized he had skipped the most important meal of the day. This day felt never-ending and it was only two-thirty in the afternoon.
He felt his mood start to improve slightly at the sight of his best friend. They went to a smaller bistro down the street from his agency as they spoke to catch up. Ochako told him all about her little family that she and Bakugou had started. It had been about seven years since their graduation. He still smiles fondly as he remembers some of the times Ochako had surprised him with mochi when she had something to tell him. The first time it had been when she started dating Katsuki, another was when she had found out she was pregnant. She had their first daughter, Hachimitsu when Ochako was twenty-five. He loved his niece more than anything in the world. He even babysat for them every now and then when they went out on dates, though Tsu would always join him just in case he felt overwhelmed by himself.
He listened carefully to his best friend as she told him little funny anecdotes of their family. Turns out, as aggressive as Bakugou could be, he was a gentle father with Hachi. This made Tenya smile. He felt a small pinch of envy twist in his chest at the stories of the family. He had always wanted that. A younger Tenya always imagined that he would have already been married with at least a child on the way now as he was rapidly approaching thirty years old. He couldn’t help but feel a tad bit jealous that Ochako had found that far before he had.
It wasn't that Tenya hadn’t tried to go out looking for love, he had dated a few before. Tenya had been blind dates, dates with friends, and even gone out to bars to meet people in search of love. But the problem was that no one had ever caught Tenya’s eye long enough to keep his attention. The last person he had been on dates with was their mutual friend and UA alumni Shouto. Tenya had always had a small fascination with Shouto even in their UA days. So when Shouto and he had begun to hang out more one on one, Tenya took the opportunity where he saw one. They dated for a few months, and he was genuinely happy before realizing that they shared a mutual bond that just worked better as friends. No hard feelings, in fact, Tenya was still rather close with the red and white man to this day.
Back at UA, Tenya had even tried his luck with Mei Hatsume, even though she had used him back at their first sports festival, he hadn’t held that against for very long after getting to know her. After all, Tenya always did have a thing for a sharp mind, especially one attached to someone who wasn’t afraid to work hard and get their hands dirty. But just like with Todoroki, he couldn’t keep his interests with her. They dated for a few brief months or so at the end of their first year. She was more passionate about her work, and he had still been working through the death of his brother. Although, they remained close friends. Hatsume industries had become the official support gear manufacturers for Idaten. She saw him in person exclusively to work on his hero suit.
My suit! That reminds me!
He pulled out his phone, “I almost forgot, I need to call Hatsume and get my suit fixed. I damaged mine pretty well in the raid today,” He said to Ochako in between stories of her family. “Do you mind if I give her a call really fast, If I don’t do it soon I won’t be able to go on my scheduled patrols this week,” he said with a simple explanation. His best friend smiled and nodded as he dialed the buttons to the support genius’s personal phone number.
“TENYA!” he was loudly greeted on the other line.
“Mei! How are you?” he asked politely.
“I’m not doing so great actually, my new partner insisted I take a sabbatical to focus on my health after I landed in the hospital while trying to perfect one of my new babies. He forced me to take time off! Can you believe that?!” she said on the other line obviously disgruntled.
“Actually, I was wondering when this was going to happen. When will you be back?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Midoriya says I’m not allowed back for a few weeks depending on recovery time! But I’m doing my best to be back as soon as possible. Why? Did you need some upgrades? UGH! I don’t want to be on leave. I would much rather be working on upgrades!” She said with a shifting tone.
“Yes, and rather urgently. But I find I have a hard time trusting my equipment with anyone but you. Is there someone you recommend?” He asked silently hoping she’d break her sabbatical and take his armor on anyways.
For once, she caved, she was finally taking time for herself “My business partner, Midoriya. He should be free tonight if you're willing. I’ll give him a call and hook you up Tenya. He works just as well as I do! In fact, he gives me a run for my money more often then I’d care to admit. I’ll let him know and send you the details!” With that, she hung up before he could ask any more questions or get a word in. Midoriya, where have I heard that name before?
I’m not sure I’ve ever met them. Have I? He thought to himself. He went back to lunch with Ochako as the name bounced around his head hoping to find a match of any sort of memory.
Sure enough, Mei sent Tenya a location pin, time, and directions for how to deliver the armor. He cleared his evening for repairs since he was unsure of how long he would need with his temporary technician. All Tenya wanted to do was get this over with. Today had truly worn down on Tenya's patience and nerves. The hot shower and first aid he had gotten beforehand had little effect on his mood. He just felt so drained, and oddly, increasingly nervous.
Tenya stood outside the mechanical shop doors with his box of armor in hand. For some reason, he found it difficult to muster up the courage to open the doors. Normally, Tenya was a confident person who rarely hesitated when it came to the hero business. But his hero suit was a personal part of him. It was passed down to him by his beloved late brother, there wasn’t a price he was willing to put on the suit. If this new technician somehow ruined the suit, there’s no telling how Tenya would react. Okay, you’re better than this Tenya. Ready and… go!
He pulled open the doors and found himself in a smaller lobby than he was used to. He checked in at reception and waited to be called back.
Finally, after about twenty minutes of waiting, the door to the shop flung open; black smoke billowed out from behind the figure standing in the doorway. Tenya looked closer trying to catch a glimpse of the person. Then as the smoke settled his eyes found a man with dark curly green hair buzzed on the back and sides leaving the curly fluff on top; he had soft emerald eyes to match. His face and body were covered in soot and grease, Tenya could see freckles poking out from beneath the smudges on the man’s face. His big wide eyes lit up when they found Tenya. A bright blinding smile that reached from ear to ear spread along his face. The man looked so pleased to be working for Tenya, he had never seen someone so genuinely excited to see him outside of family and Ochako. He gazed at this man for a moment as if the world had paused, he found that he couldn’t find words at all much less the correct ones. Tenya could have sworn he felt a soft summer breeze billow in through the small enclosed lobby enhancing this already majestic moment. A voice in the back of Tenya’s mind whispered that the man seemed familiar from somewhere or some time in his life. He couldn’t quite place it, but the man took Tenya’s breath away nonetheless.
“Ah! Ingenium! Wow! I’m such a big fan! Your rescue a few months back when you paired with Creati was so cool! I’m so honored to be working on your suit! Come with me and we can get started!” He excitedly and quickly spat with a smile. Tenya smiled back at the man and grabbed his suit as he followed the green-haired man.
Tenya looked the man over as they walked. He saw how his calves flexed with strong muscles with each step, he swung his arms ever so slightly as he walked. Tenya resisted the urge to reach out and run his fingers across the muscular back muscles as they flexed back and forth.
“So let’s see the suit, I can’t fix what I can't see,” the man said with a smile. Tenya froze for a moment just enjoying looking at the green man. He must have noticed the length of Tenya's pause before Tenya did as the green-haired man spoke again. “Oh my gosh! My apologies! I forgot to introduce myself! How rude! My name is Midoriya Izuku, I’ll be your technician today. I know you normally work exclusively with Mei and I’m so honored you felt you could work with me! You won’t regret it if I can help it.” He finished quickly. I don’t think I’ll regret this at all, Tenya selfishly thought to himself.
“Yes, very nice to meet you Mr. Midoriya, you can call me Iida if you’d like. Ingenium must be tiring to say often,” Tenya offered with a smile. He initially wanted to offer his first name to the man but decided not to jump the gun.
“Oh you can call me Izuku, I’ve never been one for pleasantries. I like for my clients to be comfortable and casual with me. Like a shared mutual trust,” Izuku finished with another blindingly genuine smile.
“Alright then, Izuku it is,” Tenya said as he handed the box of armor to Izuku. He shuffled through the contents quickly as his eyes darted around taking in and analyzing every flaw he could find. Izuku began to mutter softly to himself about the suit as he thought through the process. Tenya found the soft mumblings rather endearing. He liked the way the man's soft face scrunched together at his nose, the way he held his lower lip softly pulling it from his face as he thought out loud. After a few moments, Izuku looked up to meet Tenya’s eyes again.
“Wow, you did some solid damage to this suit. But, it’s nothing I can’t handle. While I’m at it, let me know if you think of anything you may want to change while I’m fixing the suit. mind modeling it for me? It helps me understand how a suit moves easier if I can see it on the hero themselves.” He said as he handed the box back to Tenya. Tenya nodded affirmatively then looked around for a bathroom or closet to change in.
Izuku finally spoke up, “Oh, I have a small studio compared to Mei so there isn’t a changing room here. What I normally do is offer my clients a small partitioned portion of the room, or I offer for me to stand behind the partition if they need more space to suit up. Which would you prefer?” He asked Tenya softly as he pulled a curtain that divided a fourth of the room away from the rest.
“I’ll change out here if that’s alright, I like space when I change. Armor can be a bit bulky and hard to wiggle on,” he said as he began to pull up the hem of his shirt. Now, Tenya wasn’t exactly a risk-taker, nor was he generally a flirt, but at this moment Tenya decided to push the boundary just a tad to see if he could figure out how Izuku felt about men. He’d never do this normally, in fact, Tenya usually just outright asked most times. But this, this man he saw with a soft and endearing face made Tenya want to try his hand at teasing.
Izuku blushed furiously at the tall broad blue-haired man, he sputtered incoherent sounds as he gawked, open-mouthed, at the now shirtless man in front of him. Tenya felt a surge of pride flush his being. He smirked at the man in green as he continued changing with no problem. Izuku, who was so red he may as well be a riot, turned around in a speed that rivaled Tenya’s. Hmm, I think that answered my question. Tenya smugly thought to himself.
After changing, Tenya called for Izuku to return. In doing so, the man’s nerves had evaporated as he went to work looking over and taking notes on the suit. He took out a chalk marker and marked places for repairs as he wrote the corresponding detailed idea in his journal. Tenya eyed the man as he worked methodically and efficiently. He was thankful Izuku was so preoccupied with his work, it allowed Tenya to look at him longer, taking in this smaller green-haired man.
He smelled of mint and pine as he fluttered around the hero. The smell, while odd at first, was intoxicating to the hero. He enjoyed the show of toned muscles flexing as Izuku reached around to look at the suit in front of him. He liked the way it felt when Izuku accidentally grazed his neck with his rough hands as he inspected the chest plate and shoulders of the armor. It sent sparks flying through him as if Kaminari had been the one to touch him. Tenya found that he liked it, he liked this man in front of him. No, he wanted this adorable person. He wanted to run his fingers through the soft inviting curls, he wanted to brush his hands arcoss the man's skin. The longer he looked at Midoriya, the more he felt like a soft, old, yet familiar memory. Tenya wanted to reach out and touch him as if he would disappear any second. Why is he so familiar?
Tenya battled his selfish inner thoughts as they began to converse about little things here and there. The two men began to converse again. They talked about Tenya's agency, then his recent rescues, and then Tenya mentioned Ochako. Tenya felt a flutter in his chest as Izuku’s eyes lit up at the mention of Tenya’s friends from UA. However, this was different than when Izuku was excited about the work Tenya did. The look in those deep green eyes flashed with excitement before being replaced with something unfamilair on the greenette. Nostalgia perhaps?
“UA has such a fantastic hero program. Plus, you were in the famous Hell Class! That must have been one hell of an experience! I was pretty shy back then and really only stuck to Mei. Though, she told me a few stories of you two together in high school, sounds like a ton of fun.” He said with his signature smile. “Oh, mind taking off that chest armor so I can start the repairs?” Izuku asked as he faced the wall again.
Tenya had never felt more baffled by a small comment and slight blush. ‘I was pretty shy back then’ did he go to UA as well? He called for the greenette’s attention as he handed him the chest armor. The man had an underlying blush that wore on his face when he saw Tenya shirtless before offering him a spare black tank top. Tenya let a fiendish grin flicker on his face for a fleeting moment as the greenette got to work. He saw the way the man bit his lower lip softly as he glanced between his work and Tenya. He thought about what it would feel like to run his fingers over the soft supple pink lips of the smaller man. Or perhaps the soft touch of them ghosting his own. Tenya swallowed selfish thoughts. The rosy hue dusted over freckled cheeks stole Tenya’s inner dialogue as he filed the question of UA into the back of his brain for later. For now, he'd just enjoy the view.
Maybe today isn’t so bad after all, he mused softly.
Izuku focused on the repairs in front of him harder than he ever had in his life. This was his first time working with Ingenium. While All Might was Izuku’s favorite hero for obvious reasons, Ingenium was one he followed rather closely. Between his stellar record, low collateral damage, efficient case solving, and that body with that face Izuku had always been slightly enamored with Ingenium. Izuku had been following Ingenium even back when Tensei was in that role, he had been among the masses that were devastated when Tensei was killed by the Hero Killer. Izuku had watched Tenya Iida for years from the sidelines of Support Class 1-F.
He had debated going up to talk to the seemingly friendly boy many times, especially after Tensei. But Izuku could neither find the courage nor the words to come across genuine. He didn’t even truly meet Mei until his second year at UA, she had been so busy making her own ‘babies’ that she never gave her classmates the time of day anyways. It wasn’t until they were paired up for shop hours that they had got to talking. He admired Mei, she cared so little about people (in the best way possible) that she didn’t mind that Izuku was quirkless. She just cared for the intelligent conversation and building they shared. From then on Izuku was the shy best friend of Mei, on a few occasions, Izuku had talked to the hero course students when Mei forced him to reach outside of his comfort zone. He was always so nervous when talking to the hero course students that he opted to avoid it as much as possible. Between being quirkless and Kacchan not having acknowledged him at the school other than an occasional back-alley beating on the way home he felt it best if he just kept to himself.
He remembered the first time he saw Tenya at UA. Izuku had been lost on campus on his way back from Recovery Girl’s office as he tried to find his way back to his homeroom class during the first week after one of his prototypes blew up too close to him. It was not the first time Izuku had experienced an explosion so close, he shuddered at the memories, but Powerloader-Sensei insisted he go see Recovery Girl even though he was already almost finished with his own personal first aid. This wasn’t his first rodeo after all.
He wandered the halls looking for his class when he heard a rich, loud, yet reassuring voice echoing down the hallway.
He turned the corner to see Tenya standing in the hall yelling to classmates about hallway etiquette after what he supposed was hero course training. Tenya was wearing his UA gym uniform, he had obviously been put through the wringer since his hair was slightly misplaced, his clothes seemed covered in soot, water, and scorch marks (from Kacchan Izuku assumes). His face had scuff marks that stretched softly as he spoke. Izuku noticed the curious way his eyebrows formed arrows on the ends, he wondered if that had been a product of his quirk or if it was a stylistic choice.
Izuku had been so lost in his thoughts while ogling at the tall, broad, muscular, and handsome man in front of him that he almost didn’t notice Tenya’s attention shifting to him. “Hey! Excuse me! Are you lost? May I help you find your way?” He said to Izuku earnestly with a heaviness to his tone.
Izuku scrambled for words but his brain betrayed him as he sputtered in front of the handsome man before him. The boy looked genuinely concerned for Izuku’s dilemma, something that was rare even here at UA. Izuku was just the quiet, quirkless support kid who no cared if he breathed or not, it had always been that way. “Y-yes, it’s okay though! Youdonthavetoworryaboutmeillgetoutoftheway!” Izuku spat as fast as his lips could move.
Tenya walked closer to him closing the space between them rather quickly. Izuku flinched on instinct, Tenya took a half step back in response, hoping to make Izuku feel more comfortable. Izuku shifted under Tenya’s gaze as he looked Izuku over before speaking in response, “You don’t have to worry about being in my way, as a freshly elected class rep it’s my duty to help others whether they’re in my class or not. Besides, my class just finished heroics and we’re on our own time now,” he said as he placed a firm, warm, and rather large hand on Izuku’s shoulder. He could feel his cheeks reddening from the contact, he bashfully looked down to the ground. Tenya straightened himself to fully to face Izuku as he gathered the boy's attention once more, “You don’t seem familiar, what class are you trying to find? I can help you, I’ve been to UA many times before this week and can easily guide you,” he said with a reassuringly firm smile. Izuku was at a loss of words as he looked at the handsome boy in front of him. No one had ever cared about his existence before, not even in passing like so, especially not someone so well built and respected. Izuku didn’t understand why the boy paid him any time of day. He searched and scanned the larger boy's eyes and face hoping for some indication as to why maybe he wanted something from him? Was the boy playing nice until Izuku let his guard down? Those were the worst bullying attacks. Then, it clicked for Izuku, the boy in front of him had no idea he was quirkless. He wouldn’t have helped him if the boy knew how useless Izuku was. Would he?
He once again was brought from his thoughts as Tenya pointed to Izuku’s student ID hanging from his neck. Tenya softly pulled the ID up to his eyes and looked it over. He hummed as he looked around himself as to think over the best route to class 1-F. “Ah I see, you’re in the support course, well you’re going to walk down this long hallway here,” Tenya waives his arms in a chopping motion as to point. Izuku noticed how stiff he was and found it funny and rather charming. “Then you’ll take a left and follow it for quite a while until you pass over the sky bridge hallway, at the fork you’ll take a left again and pass a second sky bridge that should take you to the support course building,” Tenya gestured to the hallways for Izuku to start his walk. Izuku bowed his head, thanked the larger boy, and followed the directions given to him.
As he walked his fingertips lightly brushed the spot where Tenya had placed his hand. Izuku could feel the ghost of his strong hands' warmth prickling his skin like a familiar friend. Maybe getting lost wasn’t so bad after all.
Izuku let the memory play in his head fondly as he looked over the armor in front of his eyes. He indulged the twitch of his lips as they crooked into a soft smile when he remembered how genuine the now Pro had been back then. I wonder if he remembers me? Probably not or he would have said something otherwise.
He resumed working as they fell into a comfortable small talk conversation. Izuku felt his breath hitch when Ingenium mentioned his classmates from UA. A chance to see if he remembers me, Izuku's mind pondered. Izuku left the small comment for Tenya as bait, to see if he would react. Izuku cursed his own nervousness as he quickly moved on with the next task to fix the suit. He was taken back by the hero's toned chest as he shamelessly peeled off his shirt leaving him bare-chested in the workshop. Izuku marveled at the chiseled muscles rippling across the hero's torso, he saw the small bandages and scars left behind by doing grueling hero work. Each one taunted Izuku, each one had its own story to tell, their own meaning, and Izuku wanted to learn it all. He wanted to touch the light scars across the smooth skin, he shoved down the urges as he bit his lip. Tenya watched Izuku carefully with his eyes. Izuku felt a wave of nerves wash over him again as he offered a spare black tank top to the hero.
This was the Ingenium, looking at Izuku in the fullest capacity of the word. He felt his cheeks blush again, traitorous cheeks he cursed in his head. They sat there together in mostly comfortable silence as Izuku worked.
Tenya carefully inspected the suit of armor Izuku had placed in the box and given back to him. He now sat back in his office at the agency, admiring the careful craftwork of petite man. The longer he looked at it, the more he saw just how well it was fixed. The handiwork rivaled that of Mei so closely he could hardly tell the difference.
Content with this new technician and his suit, Tenya mulled over the whole interaction in his head. Most of his thoughts were greedy, wanting to touch and hold the man. Then Tenya finally circled back to the small almost throwaway comment the greenette has made. ‘I was pretty shy back then, really only stuck to Mei’ he had said.
But that means that Izuku has gone to UA, didn’t it? Tenya flipped open his laptop and began searching for an online copy of his UA yearbook, pictures, any scraps from those years to confirm this theory. He searched all over until he finally switched gears to Mei’s personal social media. Now, Tenya wasn’t one to post much on social platforms; he mostly settled for letting his PR team do the heavy lifting there. But as he scrolled through Mei’s Twitter account he spotted it.
A post from almost a year ago, July 15th, Mei shared a few photos of her and Izuku through the years. Tenya zoomed in on each picture to find anything to confirm his thoughts. Maybe he was friends with Mei outside of UA? He wondered; However, the last photo piqued his interest. The first thing he noticed was the lab where Mei spent most of her time back then. The familiar grime coating the surfaces like a breeze from his past. He looked at the photo and saw the then shy Izuku meekly waiving for the photo in the corner of the room.
It clicked for Tenya as soon as his eyes grazed over the boy. He remembered him, how could he have forgotten. The support course boy who had gotten lost, wasn’t he the one Bakugou always yelled at in passing come to think of it? He looks so much smaller there than he does now. Tenya settled his eyes on the shy figure as he remembered that day in the hallway. It was nothing more than a fleeting memory; however, Tenya could recall the intense way Izuku seemed to try to make himself small and invisible. Hmm, he doesn’t seem that way anymore Tenya noted.
Maybe Bakugou might have some information. Tenya picked up his phone and dialed his best friend, surely she would know being his longtime girlfriend then and his now-wife. The line thrilled and Tenya stared at his laptop screen in anticipation.
“Tenya!” His best friend’s bubbly voice rang through the line.
“Ochako, I have an odd question for you, may I?” He asked.
“Oh Tenya we’ve been friends for about a decade, you don’t have to be so proper. Of course, you can ask me something odd. Shoot.” She replied delicately.
“Do you happen to remember a support course student named Izuku Midoriya? He may have been best friends with Mei back at UA.” he asked.
Silence filled the line as Tenya waited patiently. He heard his best friend take a breath and prepare her words as if searching for the best way to say something terrible. It left Tenya’s anticipation unsettled in his chest.
“Yeah, I do. Back then I knew him as Deku. He was one of my husband’s childhood friends. Though, they ended on poor terms. I’ve never really been able to talk to Katsuki about it much, he always seems to shut down at the mention of his former friend. Other than that, I remember him in the studio of course. I’m not sure how you don’t remember him. He was Mei’s friend after all. Didn’t you date her while still at UA? Why do you ask?”
He swallowed the answer first unsure of how it made him feel. “He is Mei’s new business partner. I just had an appointment with him yesterday evening to fix my suit. He piqued my interest, I couldn’t place where I knew him from. I don’t know how I could have ever missed him, he’s so… enthralling. He worked on my suit in record time and the quality was on par with Mei’s handiwork,” he said softly back to the woman on the line. After a brief pause, he continued. “What do you think happened between him and Bakugou? Should I be worried?” Tenya asked hesitantly.
Ochako sighed on the other side of the line. “You know, I’m not really sure. Like I said Katsuki shuts down at the mention of him. Between you and me, It almost seems like Katsuki radiates guilt whenever he comes up. But he won’t talk about it, not even after all these years.” She said in a lowered hushed tone as if to not let her husband hear.
Tenya scrolled as he listened. Clicking on Izuku’s own twitter page he found tagged on Mei’s. Ochako began to chit chat about daily life in his ear while he looked around.
The page was mostly about hero news and analyses Izuku had made over up and coming heroes. He saw a few page links on his classmates. He stumbled upon two back to back posts one of Uravity and the other on himself. Tenya froze as he saw his own picture from a strenuous battle at the beginning of his hero career. The picture was one he had never seen, it was a candid shot mid-battle where Tenya had landed a solid kick on the larger heteromorphic villain he had been facing. His helmet was long gone, cracked on the floor at the edge of the frame. His hair was messy and ruffled as a small drop of blood ran down from Tenya’s mouth. This shot was a masterpiece, how had he never seen this before. He bookmarked the article for a thorough read later.
“Ochako, I’m sending you two links, I found Midoriya’s twitter account where he analyzes heroes at work. I found an article on each of us,” he said, not caring if he interrupted his friend's family story.
“Oh! Okay, sure!” She said. After a moment, she sighed and spoke again. “Tenya,” she said. He hummed in response too preoccupied with his reading of Uravity’s hero analysis to formulate proper words. “You’re doing it again aren’t you?” She asked.
Tenya was caught off guard. “You’re doing that thing you always do when someone has caught your eye. Let me guess, you haven’t done a single piece of real work since getting back to the agency after patrol have you? You’re probably sitting at your desk over researching anything you can find on this guy, am I right?” She said sternly. Tenya was caught off guard once again, flabbergasted by his best friend’s direct approach, he found himself at a loss for words.
“I-I only want to know more about the man working on my suit, Ochako,” he said back hesitantly, he had been caught in his own little spiral yet again.
“Sure, you’re so worried about who he is even though earlier you said his quality of work was as good as Mei’s,” she prodded back.
Tenya blushed harshly and went on the defensive. “Ochako, it is perfectly reasonable for me to want to know more about the man working on my suit. It’s very important to me, you know that.” He stammered back
“Right, but didn’t you already get the suit back?” She said catching the fallacy of his argument.
Tenya went silent for a moment, scrambling for a defense before ultimately giving up. “Fine. Maybe I like him alright?” He said in surrender.
Ochako hummed positively glad she had proved her point and gotten around to the subject she had wanted to hear about in first place. “Well, go on, tell me about him, what’s he like?” She asked. He could hear the smile on her lips.
“Ochako he’s so wonderful. In the short time I was around him, I saw how thorough he was while analyzing the worked needing to be done on the suit. He kept a friendly conversation and was genuinely interested in me as a person beyond Ingenium. On top of that, he’s very attractive. He has messy green curls and trimmed edges, he was wearing mostly baggy wear in the shop but his tight shirt exposed how muscular he truly was underneath. He has these cute freckles splattered across his cheeks, and I think he might actually be gay or at least bisexual if the way he blushed and sputtered when I was shirtless was any indication. Overall, he seemed so friendly. Ochako, he was like a small muscular ball of adorable sunshine. His smile made me melt. I didn’t know I could be so overwhelmed by someone’s presence like that and the best part? He’s incredibly intelligent,” he huffed out quickly, finding himself smiling in his rant as Ochako patiently listened.
“Wow Ten, you’ve got it bad for this one, huh? I haven't heard you this put that much effort into someone's description in well, ever.” She said happily. She had never heard her friend be so enamored with someone before. Even his exes didn’t have this much of Tenya’s attention. He mostly acknowledged and respected them as people and admired their beauty both in and out. But this, this was unbridled infatuation. She could tell, Tenya was falling hard and fast. She knew what she had to do.
“Well would you look at that, I think my costume is in need of a few upgrades. In fact, I’m direct messaging Midoriya on the twitter you sent me right now to schedule an appointment,” she said cheerily.
“Ochako what are you doing?” He asked assertively.
“Helping you out, oh! Look at that he immediately responded!” She said as he heard frantic typing on the other end of the line. “I’ve just confirmed my three o’clock appointment,” she paused. Tenya could feel the mischievous grin from here. “Oh, dear! It looks like I accidentally double-booked myself over an interview. Tenya would you be a dear and take my spare suit in for me?” She asked sweetly. He had a feeling that she was batting her eyes with long lashes and a wicked little grin.
She didn’t wait for him to respond, he heard typing again when she spoke again. “I just messaged him and told him that my most trusted friend will go and supervise for me! Thanks again Tenya! I’ll have my assistant drop the suit off at your agency in the morning! Love you bye!” She finished dramatically with the click of the line ending.
What the hell just happened? Tenya thought to himself as he tried to process the last two minutes of his life.
I guess I’ll be seeing him again sooner than I thought. He figured as he sat in his chair still shocked.